Stringy-legged Mini Monsters

At the suggestion of my father, my buddy Elliot and I went out back today to look for the Red-shouldered Hawk we heard calling in the back yard. We were quickly discouraged by its elusiveness and switched out the 80-400mm telephoto for the 110mm macro, directing our attention to the rotting logs and humus on the forest floor. Of course, photographic gratification was instantly found in this harvestman (daddy long-legs), crane fly, and dragonfly that inhabited the area surrounding the new gravel path that had been set up behind my house. Crane flies (Order Diptera, Family Tapulidae) and daddy long legs (Order Opilionida) once haunted my nightmares (I think it had something to do with the long stringy legs), but they're completely harmless and I've since warmed up to them.